Just finished watching William Friedkin's adaptation of the Tracy Letts' play Killer Joe. Friedkin had adapted another of Letts' plays that I had seen about a year ago called Bug. Bug starred Michael Shannon, Ashley Judd and Harry Connick Jr. and was a brilliant expose into the fine line between reality and delusion. Bug made me desperate to see Killer Joe. As quirky and odd as Bug might have been, it pales in comparison in terms of mental impact. Killer Joe is one incredibly bold movie.
To say it's a good movie, means it's enjoyable. It's hard to call this movie enjoyable, because at times it's look away awful. Not awful in it's delivery, but awful in it's subject matter. There is gratuitous violence and nudity, a very disturbing sex scene and another scene which combines violence and sexuality in a way that has never been seen before. To say the scene is disturbing is an understatement, despite it being a gripping and the pivotal scene of the movie. Much like the rape scene in Gaspar Noe's Irreversible, the amount of time the scene takes, although not continuously evident on screen, is paralyzing. At the end, we realize this film, which teeters on the verge of being a comedy, will not end well.
The film is brilliant in that there are no wasted scenes. The dialogue is sharp and concise and aside from one character, we know who all these people are fairly quickly. The final character, we learn about throughout the movie and her and it is through her, the film finds it's boiling point. The movie is brilliantly acted by Matthew McConaughey in the title role. Emile Hirsch, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon and the lovely Juno Temple round out the main cast and these five dominate the screen. McConaughey is slick, motivated and brutally violent, but is never phased by it. Hirsch and Church play son and father, with Gershon playing the wife and step mom to Hirsch's character and Temple, who is incredible as Dottie.
I do not want to give anything away, but this is the kind of movie that is tough to watch. The brutality, the sex and the plot aren't pleasant. The characters are simpletons for the most part. The revelations in the film are revealed throughout and the one bright bulb, stands back and let's everyone else conduct their maniacal plans and then when everything become chaotic, she brings it to another level. The ending might leave some unfulfilled, especially for those who need things spelled out, but it's pretty self explanatory. I hesitate to recommend, because it's a tough watch. You are forewarned, this isn't your typical film.
To say it's a good movie, means it's enjoyable. It's hard to call this movie enjoyable, because at times it's look away awful. Not awful in it's delivery, but awful in it's subject matter. There is gratuitous violence and nudity, a very disturbing sex scene and another scene which combines violence and sexuality in a way that has never been seen before. To say the scene is disturbing is an understatement, despite it being a gripping and the pivotal scene of the movie. Much like the rape scene in Gaspar Noe's Irreversible, the amount of time the scene takes, although not continuously evident on screen, is paralyzing. At the end, we realize this film, which teeters on the verge of being a comedy, will not end well.
The film is brilliant in that there are no wasted scenes. The dialogue is sharp and concise and aside from one character, we know who all these people are fairly quickly. The final character, we learn about throughout the movie and her and it is through her, the film finds it's boiling point. The movie is brilliantly acted by Matthew McConaughey in the title role. Emile Hirsch, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon and the lovely Juno Temple round out the main cast and these five dominate the screen. McConaughey is slick, motivated and brutally violent, but is never phased by it. Hirsch and Church play son and father, with Gershon playing the wife and step mom to Hirsch's character and Temple, who is incredible as Dottie.
I do not want to give anything away, but this is the kind of movie that is tough to watch. The brutality, the sex and the plot aren't pleasant. The characters are simpletons for the most part. The revelations in the film are revealed throughout and the one bright bulb, stands back and let's everyone else conduct their maniacal plans and then when everything become chaotic, she brings it to another level. The ending might leave some unfulfilled, especially for those who need things spelled out, but it's pretty self explanatory. I hesitate to recommend, because it's a tough watch. You are forewarned, this isn't your typical film.
Comments
Post a Comment